Attorney General Holder came before the House Judiciary Committee today. He seemed to carefully avoid characterizing the waterboarding of detainees as a violation of law. When questioned by hostile Republican committee members who posed ticking bomb-style hypotheticals, except for a few remarks expressing his opinion that waterbording is indeed torture, Mr. Holder would only state that waterboarding isn't consistent with American values. He made no comments concerning the culpability of top Bush administration officials and, as such, provided no indication concerning the potential for legal sanctions in the Bush torture matter.

Reasonably, torture is the involuntary subjection of an individual to an act or process that's intended to cause physical or mental agony, and where the individual has no control over said act or process. Legal scholars agree that torture in the context of the Bush-Cheney 'enhanced interrogation' campaign was a blatant violation of US and international laws. As I see it, if General Holder were a reasonable and just man with genuine respect for the rule of law, he would embrace this perspective and pursue warranted sanctions for the violators. Appointment of a special counsel would be a good start.